The World I See, the World You See, and the World We See.

WARNING: LONG article.... :}
For this week's assignment, we are to choose a news article which reflects the world we see. We then are to choose 2-3 people to share, who are not students and we do not see often. As they tell us the world that we do not see, we are to give them three quotes:

"who we are at the core is love itself."
"We were born with one purpose: to love and be loved."
"As we change, the world will change with us."
"The world we see reflects the people we've become. If we do not like what we see in the world, we must face what we don't like within ourselves."

First off, the article I have chose is Lysacek Wins the Gold with Style from The New York Times and the people I have chosen to share with are my aunt and my mom. The reason I chose the article was that it is the only somewhat positive article I can find on the home page of NY Times. I have already looked through tons of headlines from my online news subscriber, however other than something the gov. did wrong, tragedies at Haiti, or Kennedy's love letters, I couldn't find anything close to being positive. I am not saying that I am not interested in what the gov. did wrong or tragedies in Haiti, (def. not interested in Kennedy's love letter though) they just don't reflect the world I see.

I believe amidst all the problems and pain that cover the world, heart warming and caring tales are what reflect the world I see and believe in. I believe that there is still goodness in everyone's heart, they just don't make it to the news headlines.

Secondly, I chose my relatives as candidates to discuss mainly because previous candidates have all some troubles.... This made me realize that people are definitely more and more busy. I originally wanted to take this as a chance to reconnect with some old friend who entered the job market early, however they seemed just as busy, if not busier, than college students. At first they were all eager to help, yet when it really came down to discussing, things just didn't work out as well. I was even hoping to ask my brother instead of my mother, since I figured my mother and I would have similar views. My 8th grader brother turned out to be too busy doing math hw, and was again unavailable. I think it is rather sad that it is so hard to have people (including myself) slow down and stop, just to talk about love and the world we live in.

Anyhow, moving to the good stuff...The first response from my aunt about the article was, she was wondering what would be Lysacek's reactions if he didn't win Gold. In a way, she thinks that Lysacek had less stress since he wasn't expected to win, thus overall result in him being more able to perform well. On the other hand, Plushenko, the anticipated Gold medalist had more stress and probably inversely affected his performance. I then told her my main view on the article was that sometimes people set a goal and work hard to achieve it, and the process in reaching the goal is already a success in itself. I think going through the process itself can offer so many learning experiences, that the end result seems like the icing on a cake. (a seven thinking pattern? *laugh*) such as when one is writing a research paper for a scholarship, the knowledge that one gained during the research can be more significant than actually winning the scholarship.

My aunt agreed with me on that part, however she joking said Plushenko didn't seem to feel that way, since the words coming our of his mouth is rather sour. Though, she also thinks that to achieve your goal, you much be aggressive and take the first step. Looking at a bigger picture, she also agreed on wanting to see more heartwarming news. (She then proceeded to tell me a story of an old man cooking noodles everyday for a female crippled and stray dog with three puppies. The news then reached an organization in Europe.) She thought that it would be much nicer if the news can enact more love within our hearts and carry it out in our daily lives. News should encourage love and support the love within our core, hence changing the world little by little. My aunt thought that many it is hard for people to know themselves, in fact we often see ourselves through other people's eyes. Hence if the news offered us a better view, people will be more motivated. She agreed with me that love is a learning experience. It is just like when parents can try their hardest to tell their child something, yet the child may never learn it without experiencing for him or herself. (which I thought was a great analogy)

ON the other hand... (this entry is getting long) my mother had quite an intense reaction I didn't quite expect. She didn't think either Lysacek or Plushenko were happy. She thinks the Olympic, like many different systems, urge people to compete to an extreme and cause unhappiness. My mom believes that competing for a ranking to the point where even .5 matters, while the athletes have sacrificed so much just seem rather pointless. She thought the genuine spirit of the Olympics were lost. If systems like these don't help society improve, then it is not created with the love for the world in mind. Then it is time to relook at what is wrong and tweak it back.

Love. Happiness. List.

This is love for me...This is happiness for me...
This is what I list [strive] for...
These pictures took me a whole afternoon to find/think of. I think the picture of the giving tree represent what I feel about love the best...I remember reading it with my mother when I was little @ the Golden Gate Music Concourse, with the pigeons. At that time, that book always made me feel so sad, and could never understand why the boy is so mean to the tree. Looking at the book now, it is very warm with a clinch at the heart for me, and that is how I feel about love too. :}

The penguin and the boy spells happiness for me. I am not sure how to explain it, but looking at it just puts a smile on my face. I think it's something about the intimacy, the care, the simplicity, and the notion of transcending beyond human and penguins...haha.

Lastly, I chose two pictures for what I strive for. The first one is the close relationship between love and happiness. I believe that with love, happiness will naturally come. Though, this relationship doesn't always work backwards. Sometimes one has to suffer to love, yet in the end, it will all work out. As a great quote from a classmate states, "Happiness should not be the reason to love, but the result." (if I remember this correctly.) Hence, I "list" to live a life full of happiness and love, with the people around me and myself. The second picture represents my desire to quench the curiosity I have for everything this world has to offer.

Wk 3: Video Response- "UC Berkeley Budget Protest. The Wheeler Frontlines"

"But today, perhaps for the first time, we shall struggle to achieve a morality that is self-imposed and consented to by our own reasons, though even that will not guarantee our compliance." -R. Holloway, Godless Morality, Ethical Jazz.

It has always puzzled me why protests and strikes often lead to police brutality and how a non-violent voicing of opinions can end up with such horrid blood spills. Then after discussing more about this topic this year, I realized that protests are very intense situations filled with blood curdling emotions and explosive actions waiting on a brink for a catalyst. I think during those situations it is very difficult for both sides not to act out on their anger towards each other. The protesters are ready to take on anything in defense of their rights, and often egging on or taking out anger on the police. On the other hand, the police are trying their best to keep a large crowd under control from turning into a huge mob (while being finger pointed and swore at ..) Thus violence under these circumstances is easily evoked and is a much more complicated issue than just "the police beating up innocent protesters."

Hence in response to the quote/reading, I don't think the police have anything to do with having a self-imposed moral as opposed to following one from the state. In fact, the personal morals of the police have absolutely nothing to do with their job as keeping the crowds in control. They are two different distinct subjects. Certainly the act of violence towards the crowd should definitely be avoided, yet with no knowledge of "crowd-control", I cannot say for certain which is the best action to take. It is true that if the police has a moral of not using violence on students(in this case) then they should avoid it, however when taking up the responsibility of keeping under control necessary actions must be taken. There are definitely better ways than hitting the students, yet under that particular situation would it be better to use an alternative? Is there enough time? May be the police has done what he thought best, may be it could be much more violent. If I were the police, may be I could've done worse? As for following their morals, would it help keep the crowd under control? What if certain actions were not taken because of their personal morals, then the crowd easily turned into a mob

It definitely evoked a strong mixed emotions of anger and shock towards the police force when I first watched the video, yet I don't think I am in a place to pass the judgment of people should have or should not have follow their self-imposed morals. Believing in morals and following them are two different things, and can vary under certain circumstances.("..though even that will npot guarantee our compliance.") Just like how morals should be like ethical jazz in our lives compared to past generations, it should also be improvised at each given situation. I believe we cannot just blindly believe in a set of rules and ignore what the problem at hand. We set up morals, self-imposed or given, to protect what is important to us and others, hence they must be flexible in every way so they don't end up hurting what we are trying to protect. However, with all that's been said, I definitely think it is important to keep the emotions at a minimum at protests, (though extremely tough, and a little controversial) the purpose of strikes is to show that the majority number have a bigger power over the minority privileged.

Man that was a long post....thank you and a toast to whoever take on this challenge and read it! XD

Wk 2: Goup Blogs!

For this week we are suppose to create a group blog for our people in similar personalities as ourselves. I am in a group with another seven and six. Here's our blog, I think we will be posting responses to articles and analyze how we react to them as part of our personality. (which I am really interested to see...)